Vegetables

Ratatouille is an awesome and easy way to incorporate tons of veggies into your dinner. Pair them with turkey cutlets for a tasty, fast, and fresh dinner that fills you up without the guilt. Use fresh herbs if you’ve got ’em.

Turkey Cutlets Directions:1) Mix together flour, salt, and pepper; dredge turkey in mixture.
2) Melt 2 tbsp butter with olive oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add turkey and cook, in batches, 1 1/2 minutes on each side or until golden brown. Set aside and keep warm.
3) Add wine, lemon juice, and remaining 1 tbsp butter to skillet, stirring up anything stuck to the bottom of the skillet. Cook for a couple minutes.
4) Stir in garlic, parsley, and capers, and spoon sauce over turkey. Serve with lemon wedges.

Directions:1) Chop the broccoli into bite size pieces, including the stems – they are tasty too!
2) Toss broccoli, garlic, oil, salt and pepper, and panko together in a bowl.
3) Roast for 10 minutes or so on 425.
4) Take out the broccoli and sprinkle on some Parmesan, then roast for another minute or two.

Artichokes are one of my favorite favorite favorite foods. I could eat them every day. For years I’ve just steamed them, but last night decided to try roasting them. If you’re jonesing for an artichoke and want one in under 30 minutes, steam them. If you’re patient, roast them stuffed with garlic. I liked this version even better than steamed.

Directions:1) Cut off the top third of the artichoke, and then cut off the stem.
2) Drizzle a little olive oil on a large square of foil. Place artichoke in the middle of the foil, then squeeze juice from half of a lemon over it.
3) Stick the garlic inside the leaves of the artichoke, then sprinkle with kosher salt.
4) Wrap up the foil around the artichoke and bake for an hour and a half on 400.

This is a simple ingredient or side dish for a lot of meals, so I thought I’d include a quick “recipe” on the blog. You can buy the pre-roasted garlic minced up in the little jars at the grocery store, but homemade roasted garlic is SO much better. And it’s really very easy.

Directions:1) Chop off the tops of the garlic heads to expose the cloves.
2) Drizzle the bottom of a pie dish or a small baking dish with a couple tablespoons of olive oil.
3) Add the garlic heads, chopped side up, to the dish. Drizzle them with olive oil. Sprinkle with salt and pepper.
4) Bake for 45 minutes on 375, covered in foil.

Made for a Father’s Day dinner side dish, this simple grilled vegetable dish was taken to the next level with a the jalapeño butter. This is an easy meal to prep ahead of time if you have company coming. Start the butter early and leave it in the fridge, cut up the veggies, and then throw them on the grill for about 5-10 minutes until done.

Directions:1) Heat a grill to high heat and grill jalapeños (brushed with olive oil) for about 5 minutes, turning until blackened and softened. Put jalapeños in a bowl and cover with plastic wrap. Allow to cool.
2) Peel, seed, and dice the jalapeños (I’d recommend using gloves to do this or you might get jalapeño burn). Return to the bowl and add cayenne pepper, butter, and scallions. Stir to combine. Refrigerate until shortly before serving. Remove from fridge before serving to allow butter to soften up again.
3) Season the mushrooms, eggplant, zucchini and corn with olive oil, salt and pepper. Grill over medium-high heat, turning occasionally, about 5-10 minutes until tender and slightly charred. Serve with the jalapeño butter on the side.

Directions:1) You can go ahead and make the salsa if you’d like. Refrigerate it for an hour or two. The lime should help the avocado not to brown! Mix all of the salsa ingredients in a bowl and gently stir to combine.
2) For the corn cakes, start by preheating your oven to 200. Line a baking sheet with foil and spray lightly with pam (you’ll place the fried cakes on the sheet and keep warm in the oven.)
3) Shuck the corn, then cut the kernels off the cobs into a large bowl. With the back of your knife, scrape down the sides of the corn to get some of the corn juice into the bowl (this helps make the cakes a little more moist.)
4) Place half of the kernels into a food processor and slightly puree. Add back to the bowl with the rest of the kernels.
5) Add the flour, cornmeal, onion, basil, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and pepper to the corn. Stir together.
6) Add lightly beaten eggs, buttermilk, melted butter, and stir to combine. Be careful not to over mix.
7) Heat canola oil in a large skillet over medium heat. Put just enough oil in to cover the bottom. Let sit for a few minutes so it gets really hot.
8) Take one very heaping tablespoon of corn cake mix at a time, and drop into the skillet. Cook about 4 at a time, 1 minute per side, until golden brown. Remove cakes to baking sheet to keep warm.
9) Repeat with remaining batter. Serve hot, topped with tomato and avocado salsa!

Roasted asparagus is one of my favorite easy green side dishes. They’re so flavorful already, you really don’t need to go overboard on the spices. We served this with a big Easter meal so we made two whole bunches. You could easily cut this down to one bunch for a just a few people. (Or two, with the amount of asparagus I can eat.)

Directions:1) Preheat oven to 400.
2) Line a large baking sheet with foil and spray with non-stick spray.
3) Snap off the tough ends of the asparagus and place on baking sheet.
4) With a brush, baste the oil on asparagus, gently turning to coat all sides.
5) Sprinkle with salt and pepper to taste, then crush garlic cloves over and toss together.
6) Bake about 18 minutes.